1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for notifying a user of a function not used by the user or a new function in the system and, more particularly, a system that stores a vehicle state configured by a driver in a portable recording medium such as an IC card and enables the vehicle state for the vehicles other than the vehicle whose state is configured.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional information provision system is known that stores a vehicle state configured by a driver in a portable recording medium such as an IC card and enables the vehicle state for the other vehicles than the vehicle whose state is configured. An information provision system of such a type inherits a vehicle state for a function that is known to and needed by a user.
An example of such a type of information provision system includes a known seamless usage environment information provision system as described for example, in JP-2002-120670 A. In accordance with the described system, an in-vehicle unit capable of using an IC card is mounted in a car. Further, a driver can assign a value to an on-board or driving condition to be stored in the IC card. The in-vehicle unit reads the value from the IC card to configure the on-board or driving condition. The driver need not configure the on-board or driving condition each time upon getting into the vehicle. The driver can adjust the on-board or driving condition of another car such as a rental car, leased car, replacement car, new car, or the like to that of their own car. More specifically, the IC card stores preset values for on-board or driving conditions the driver can specify when getting in the car. The driver inserts the IC card into the in-vehicle unit of the car to be used. The in-vehicle unit reads an on-board or driving condition value stored in the IC card. The system uses the on-board or driving condition value read from the IC card to automatically configure the on-board or driving condition to that of the IC card owner.
The above-mentioned information provision system inherits vehicle states for functions known to and needed by the user as mentioned above. When the user determines a function to be unnecessary, however, the function may be least likely to be used in the future unless it is modified so as to solve the inconvenience felt by the user. Even when the function solves the inconvenience felt by the user, the function will not be used unless the user remembers the availability of the function. Further, there may be a function that is unknown to the user or is newly added as a result of a software upgrade. Such function may be least likely to be used unless the user recognizes the availability of the function.